Name: Retsnom
Age: 19
Race: Demon
Type: Gentically Engineered between a panther and a wolf
Place of Birth: N.I.C.E. Labs
Abilities: Retsnom can manipulate water into solid matter. He can also breathe under water.
Personality: He is wise, kind of mean but likes to toy with his prey.

-

You suddenly feel a mental spasm as the alien thoughts form in your head - a message comes in.

"Just messing with your mind." the sinister voice says, before fading away. "Seriously, that's lame. That's so lame, that should be in a 'how not to make a monster character', for real."

-



Name: Echkeliel 967, Earth equivalent rank of Captain, recently promoted from Corporal.

Age: 72 Solar Years, young adult in Elgirian society.

Race: Elgirian.

Type: Extraterrestrial.

Place of Birth: Delta Krasslon 2. Has lived most of his life in Delta Krasslon 3 before being recruited to the Space Battle Squadron.

Description: Its species is vaguely similar to terrestrial cuttlefish due to their race having evolved in a watery world. Several red eyes line his main body, peering this way and that. Some of them are closed. Powerful, prehensile tentacles are used for locomotion and capture of prey - hang down from the lower body and serve as a melee combat/grappling weapon, but for now lazily meandering in the calm liquid of his throne bath.

Each of these large tentacles are lined with fleshy nodules and suckers, and tipped with a powerful spike set into folding flesh - able to be extended and retracted at will much like a cat's claw.

The monster's skin colors and texture constantly shift - picking out a convenient color scheme from the surroundings to best camoflage itself, almost like living optical camoflage. A large many areas of its shifting skin is slick with a thin, oily extrustion that helps regulate its body temperature and allows it to slide easily into tight places - perfect for stalking prey quietly.

The upper body splits into five ways, the shortest end bearing a large set of three-hinged jaws set in with two rows of wicked, back-curving teeth that almost seem to wriggle. Two more lateral splits bear larger sensory organs and a series of smaller - more accurately prehensile tentacle sets that - while lacking the brute strength of its main propulsionary limbs, have immense dexterity and sense of touch.

The final pair bearing a set of four tentacles adorned with shifting fleshy protrusions marking off different types of tentacles. Suckers for hanging on to things, a set of file-like teeth on a single fleshy jaw to cut away obstacles and break down food and finally - a set of retracted needles to inject captured prey with a variety of poisons and mind-altering drugs produced by the glands at the base of the split. These needles appear to be an adapted form of the larger talon borne by the rear locomotive tentacles.

Distinguishing features: On his body are several crisscrossing scars, often formed one over the other. They appear to be remains of distorting, crushing or depressurization.

Innate Abilities:
Skilled optical camouflage: nearly invisible in shadows or when underwater.

Offensive optical camouflage: By injecting a series of signals into his skin to create mentally jarring effects, he can stun a short-range prey. As it is an optical attack, it is not that effective when used continuously on those who had the chance to build up a resistance.

Amphibious: breathing through simple lungs and a set of gills set into the central point.

Mental coercion 1: While not really enough to take direct control of a sapient creature, is sufficient to 'inject' subtle thoughts and suggestions into an intelligent creature. Extensive/repeated use of this ability causes exhaustion.

Boneless Body: Its body is mostly strong muscles and a few hard-points made of soft cartilage covered in tough skin. Very skilled at getting through tight spaces.

Regeneration: If a body part is damaged or cut off, it can regenerate from these wounds... at a large cost of calories.

Omnivorous: Able to gain nutrition from a variety of sources, both plant matter and animal proteins can be easily digested.

Intra-species Telepathy: Can mentally communicate with another of his species. Note that this doesn't work on humans in the field - all they get is a blast of mental white noise (think several blackboard chalk screech noises all at once in your ears, made you cringe, didn't I?) that can stun an unprepared target largely due to the fact that human minds cannot comprehend their language.

Learned Abilities:

Human languages 101: Knows some basic vocabulary and how to vocalize/write them.
Human languages 201: Knows some advanced vocabulary and its intonations, accurately able to mimick human speech.*NEW*

Extra-Tough Body: Constant harsh training for several years on Delta Krasslon 5 has made his skin into a tough, leathery armor that can withstand immense pressures.

Silent Approach: Extensively trained in covert operations, it is able to approach a target unseen and noiselessly. He could be standing right behind you and you wouldn't notice... unless you had a good sixth-sense.

-------------

Equipment on-hand:
Equipment worn: Cortex computer system.
Equipment stored in items: Neural Disruptor, in holster of the Cortex Computer System.

Equipment in starship storage:
ATX-VT Vortex Shotgun (non lethal/stun),
RX3-V3 Disruptor Rifle (armor-piercing/lethal).
Plasma Jet Cutter (begone, pesky barricades!).
ECCM Systems Analyzer Toolkit (evading security).
Magnetic cuffs x10 (You've watched enough hentai to know what this is used for).

Personality: At first appearance, he appears to be a career military man who does things by the book. However, behind this stoic exterior is the same excitable kid he always was - a huge fan of the doujins that the Ancients often brought to trade. Now that he's managed to pass muster, he takes extra care to complete the mission to exact parameters. Due to this, he's a perfectionist in regards to stealth and approaches to his actions. Regardless, humans have been considered extinct for a long time since the Great Dying - and deep down, he is excited to confirm their existence, and maybe live the dream of the doujins he scored long ago.

Dream: "The Old Empire will flourish again!"

# of Cocks: One, sheathed along the lower side of his main body. Completely prehensile, well muscled, ribbed for her pleasure and splits into 3 individual 'sub-shafts' as it tapers off.

Number of Tentacles: You manage to count around 16 total - but you suspect it may have more.

Fighting Style: Ambush predator. Skilled marksman, but prefers silent takedowns over gunfighting.

Motivations: "I hear humans can produce very interesting proteins and nutrients. I wonder what they're like. Maybe like those doujins the Ancients traded to us... ah, maybe I'll see for myself now."

Notes: In their culture, entering outer space naked is considered a show of prowess and the scars of depressurization is considered a mark of how tough they are. A similar concept to how the 'six pack' on the human stomach is considered a sign of a toned, fit body. The more depressurization scars, the more desirable it is for the females of its species.

Weaknesses:
Overfeeding can disrupt its body's homeostatic systems and force it to retreat due to nausea and exhaustion.
[LOCKED] Hidden, perhaps a clever human might figure this out?
[LOCKED] Hidden, perhaps a clever human might figure this out?

--------------------------------------------------------------

Ship data: The 'Oboro' (meanings: Hazy moon, vagueness) is a specialist craft from his homeworld's military fleet, customized for an extremely long-range journey across the galaxy. Most of its weapons systems have been removed in favor of sophisticated stealth and shielding systems. Designed for use by lone operatives and scouts, it has a well-equipped onboard analysis lab and comms facilities which utilize the recently-discovered 'higher dimensions' for ultra-secure communications. In the case of an emergency, it can shift into DCS mode, which grants it an incredible level of speed and maneuverability in exchange for nullifying its deflector shields completely. The Dual Control System drains the user's stamina at a faster rate, and overuse can render a pilot too exhausted to stay awake.

--------------------------------------------------------------


Story thus far.

Echkeliel 967 looked up codex he was reading as the ship's computers updated the flight plans, first by using the ancient starmaps - then by using new visual data from the ship's sensor array as he traveled through the Silent Zone. This basic guide to human language was gifted to him by by the General just before he had entered this spacecraft which now served as his home for the last year had been interesting. And thanks to that, he now had a basic understanding of the human language. What he would learn on this expedition would give scholars years of material to chronicle. The rations and hydroponic farm system had kept him fed for the last two years, but his palps opened slightly in anticipation of a real meal.

Of course, he had to follow mission directives. For one, he couldn't just show up out of the blue and demand access to their libraries, and a quota of prisoners to experiment on. This was a covert mission - information gathering and sample analysis of an unknown civilization that was believed lost to the ages. He closed all of his eyes and recalled the incident that had propelled him from just another rank-and-file of the space marines Spec-Ops division to the individual chosen for this mission.

Aside from his duties as a marine, he was also an avid astronomer. After passing muster, the military had awarded him a small contract to map out star systems after the Great Dying - the end of over 80% of civilization due to what was theorized as the gamma ray burst of a massive, far-away galaxy imploding into its own black hole. With the ancient starmaps useless due to the loss of most navigational systems and beacons around the galaxy, he had a small source of income from what he considered his true calling. Life was good, even when they were a slow race stuck in an extragalactic star cluster that floated in the wake of one of the arms of the spiral galaxy.

But the flux storm had ended, and they had survived thanks to their deep subsea super-fortresses. And now that the storm of destruction was over - it was their time to rise from the shadows and grasp the empty, lifeless husk of the galaxy. For that, they'd need food, supply lines and an innate understanding of the newly stabilized hyperspace lines.

It was for these tasks that he now flew the small, black ship. A quick warning blinked on screen as the damper shields easily deflected some space debris. After making sure the course was unaffected from this encounter, he 'sat' back down into the comfortable liquid bath and relaxed.

-----

It had been a day like any other when he got into the his observatory and made a few passes around a small brown star that was floating at the edge of the milky way, when he noticed a spike in the hyperspace broadband radiation analyzer. The signal, garbled as it was - came from coreward, somewhere in the vast ruins of galactic civilization. Rest forgotten, he had shifted his mobile observatory into spherical orbit around the star - using the effect of precession to zero in on this signal. He did not recognize this language or code, but he continued recording for several weeks until the signals faded away, buried in the white noise of surrounding stars as the source of the signal spun spiral-ward and away from his location.

With the data in hand, he had returned to the homeworld - and with sensor arrays far more powerful than his own amateur equipment, they had located the source of these transmissions. A human-operated colony, far away from the Terran empire's old reach. Still active - still alive! Legends had been sung about them from days of yore, how they would bring prosperity and how their bodies would manufacture vital nutrients. And now, these old tales from the Old Empire were about to be scientifically explored. Recognized as the scientist who had discovered the 'whoa!' signal - given this name due to his original reaction being surprised by the burst. he joined the Exo-OPs unit in the hopes of being selected as the first to study these legendary creatures. Thanks to his own efforts, he passed the muster and was chosen for the mission.

During this time, xeno-sociologists had gone through their legends and languages to write a simple guide to Terran speech. It was the fruit of these long years of research that he held now in his hands. And he would be the one to expand greatly on it - making history in the process. He smiled as he recalled the briefing. He had kept a holovid, yes - but sometimes reminiscence was nice.


-----

"You've come far." the general spoke. "It is good that you have a passion for these matters. Ultimately, what you do during the mission may result in us acquiring materials and bio-data that may allow us to rapidly expand over the empty galaxy. As you can see, it is not a task one must enter lightly. There's many things we must discuss - first and foremost, the no-contact policy and other things."

"Yes, sir."

"We have completed forward reconnaissance and basic language analysis, and I will now explain the mission." the general nodded to the screen as the blue planet, orbited by the platform flickered on. "This colony, though supposedly destroyed by the Great Dying - has survived and is home to a viable human population, judging by broadcast analysis. While this orbital platform here seems to be staffed by a military or security group, your task is to infiltrate this planet and avoid detection while studying the language, genetics, and production status of these creatures. You are to record what you can, take samples and relay this data to us via the recently developed TENTNET, a system for securely broadcasting encrypted data via Quasispace."

"Sounds simple enough, sir." Echkeliel 967 responded. "But you mentioned the no-contact policy..."

"I did. While your task is to survey the colony and its dwellers, power structures and society... it is imperative that you do so without being found by their law enforcement or giving the locals awareness on your existence. There may be other survivors, and as we are now - if we are met with a strong force, we'll have to fall back and relinquish this great source of materials. However, this discovery presents us with an incredible opportunity. Bring back these data samples we need, and we can utilize this new intelligence to expand our colonies' reach and eventually contact them from a strong positional advantage. I suspect that if they are a splinter colony - or a last holdout, they'll make sure their people are well-defended. And if they're put on alert, this may put your mission in jeopardy. As things are now, we cannot allow that."

"I understand, sir." Echkeliel 967 nods. "Leave it to me. I am well trained for these kinds of situations, sir."

"Indeed. And now, I would like to present you with the contributions of our scientific community - all of them worked very hard specifically so that this mission would succeed. Gentlemen, if you please..."

"I am Dr. Khraen 182, head of the department of xenobiology and biotech, I handled your augmentative surgery and bioengineering your venom glands for optimization to your mission, and I'd like to present you with the Neural Disruptor." the scientist hands him a black box, holding a set of thorium fuel cells and a silvery short rod. "For use when you're collecting cellular samples from the humans. We've built this device; a mechanism that can disrupt the human brain's neurons in such a way that short term memories are muddled - effectively erasing around 8 terran hours of memory from the target's mind. It uses a lot of power, and the thorium fuel cells can only replenish it in around 16 hours. It is to serve as a backup if your body is weakened and are unable to produce the amnesiac drugs necessary to erase your trail. Of course, it does nothing against us as our brain structure is 'wired' in a different way..."

"This is very useful. Thank you."

"I am Dr. Dhele 2164, chief of staff at the department of horticulture and health." the next one stands up and passes him another sealed box. "Here is a self-replenishing hydroponic farm which has been seeded with a simple crop we call plump helmets. These may be bland, but they are packed with nutrients and are easily harvested for food once every 3 weeks. Additionally, you'll find a cannister of high-capacity nutrient pills for your use during your trip in space. Even with the the advantage of interphased drives and Quasispace travel, our scientists estimate that you'll arrive in visual range of the target in around two years. You must be in peak physical condition by the time you arrive. Be sure to use the physical and mental training facilities we have constructed on your starship to full effect."

"Thank you, so I will."

"I am Dr. Jyeethril 61, head of the information and computing department. I designed your ship's navigation computer, the uplink and this - the Cortex Datalink System you'll be using to gather information. Working with the xeno-sociology department, we have created an encryption standard that should be unreadable to humans for around 500~700 years, due to their own lack of understanding of our own language. This console system is a data analyzer, port checker and sample collector that has been built specifically for your mission, Captain. It links with the uplink computer at your starship to relay what data and samples it has gathered to us via TENTNET. Please, do be careful with it - we've made every effort to make sure it's combat-ready and rugged enough to survive in hostile areas such as weather, underwater, etc... but if this item breaks, you'll have to bring back live samples to the ship's computer for analysis."

"I'll be careful. Thank you, doctor."

"Last, but not least - I have something for you. The head of the xeno-sociologists foundation, Dr. Kreele 712 was unable to attend this meeting - but she made sure to pass this along; a codex detailing the basis of human language." the general picks out a codex and hands it over. "They don't use telepathy like you or I, but rather communicate by making audible sounds using their lungs. We believe that they have an organ to make sounds with. The flesh palps serving to seal your air-filtering apparatus should be sufficient to mimick such vocalizations. However, you are not allowed to directly communicate with them at this time due to the risks we have outlined previously. We provide this for purposes of trickery and misdirection only. We will only communicate with the humans when our strategic advantage is very clear. We cannot risk getting into a war with how things are now."

"I'll remember that. Thank you, General."

"If you have any questions regarding the operation..." the general nods. "Feel free to ask now, because we won't be talking for at least two years."

"One question, sir." Echkeliel 967 raises a limb.

"Go on."

"You mentioned a law enforcement unit... could you tell me more about them?"

The screen zooms in on the orbital station. Blurred, but its a wonder of Elgirian science to have taken a photograph of such a faraway object. Pinpricks of light give away the fleet nearby.

"ADD. The organization in charge of this blockade is called the ADD." Dr. Khraen explains. "From studying their internal communications for the last three years, we have come to understand that this organization seems more nebulous than a first look would suggest. However, we can most likely infer that their objective is planetary defense due to the blockade fleet it is fielding. For the time being, we will have to move forward assuming these are true. To this end, your ship will be equipped with stealth systems, and an inertial nullifier so you can make silent landfall in this planet. Avoid making any contact with this organization until we have further information on their intents, and the means to nullify their forces if they turn out to be hostile."

"What are my rules of engagement if I am attacked preemptively by this organization, or if a lone agent discovers my presence?"

"Every human is a potential source of data, nutrients and knowledge for us. We know that the ADD itself is staffed by humans as well." the general replies. "So, I'd rather you not kill them due to the fact that these may be the last of their kind. In fact, the best possible scenario is that you remain undetected so you can study the colony proper. But if you are faced with a situation in which there is no non-violent solution, deal them swiftly and use every trick in the Ex-OPs book to make it look natural, or to blame it on another factor. An accident. A fight gone wrong. Loss at sea. Equipment failure. You are cleared to use any method at your discretion - but only if combat is unavoidable. Otherwise, do not risk discovery, do not engage with these agents - and furthermore, avoid leaving any trace behind in any and all of your operations ...even it is in your investigation of the locals. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

"The opportunity we have cannot be denied." the General continues. "The secrets of the Ancients... it was said that their complete domestication of humans led to a golden age of prosperity. Enough resources to keep control of a pan-galactic civilization. This colony of extant humans may eventually give us what we need; an understanding of human psysiology and eventually, the means to domesticate them all."

"I see."

"When you arrive, the situation may have changed due to the fact we all acknowledge the current data we have on them is at least 6~10 years out of date. If so, your next task is to understand any possible new factors, identify organizations and institutions active in this colony, and pass this intelligence onto us. This is what we can do with our current observation technology - and we're counting on you to handle this task. Once quasispace communications are established, we will relay new orders as we receive more data from you."

"One more question, general..."

"Go ahead."

"In the course of my mission, what are my rules of engagement if I encounter non-hostiles?"

"While its highly unlikely, you raise a good point. Optimally, you are to hide from any other species for the reasons we have outlined previously. But as your mission goes on, you may encounter friendlies over the course of your mission who chose to cooperate with you. You may let them live, but under no circumstances are you to tell them your rank, or your mission - even where you've hidden your spacecraft. Due to our starmaps being useless, and how we've hidden away from the galaxy - it may be possible that multiple species may have rebounded - just like how we did. We just may not be aware of it yet... it is to this end that you're being sent to scout this new world. No outsider must know of our situation at the time."

"Understood. What about the hostile ones?"

"If you do encounter a hostile - perhaps an outsider or other hostile species, and ONLY if you feel that your mission is in jeopardy because it has attacked you with intent to kill..." the general's tone darkened a little as his palps opened, instinctual combat excitement giving away the answer before he said a word. "You are cleared to use the full might of your arsenal to eliminate the attacker. Your mission is far more vital than the lives of any other. Of course, you must ensure that your kills leave no trace, and can never be traced back to you. But like I said, its unlikely that anything out there survived."

"Understood, sir. No more questions."

"Well, your trip begins tonight, so take a good rest - eat well, say goodbye. That sort of thing." the general stands up. "Report to the Metlar launch station in MT 20:30 sharp. Dismissed."

"Yes sir."

"Long live the Heavenly Emperor!"

"Long live the Heavenly Emperor!"
"Long live the Heavenly Emperor!"
"Long live the Heavenly Emperor!"
"Long live the Heavenly Emperor!"

---------

Landfall came one year later, and switching on the inertia-less drives and taking from the more powerful interphased drive, his spaceship performed a long-range orbit of the target planet. The blockade fleet was yet unaware of his presence and he switched on signal analyzers to scan for communications. If all went to plan, he'd be able to slip in quietly without raising a fuss.

Reducing power to the inertia-less drives and increasing the stealth drive's power feeds to maximum as the planet's gravity well pulled his spacecraft in, her managed to do a few high-level orbits like a terran shark circling its prey in ever-closer circles. Letting the damper fields blow away atmospheric fires of entry as the orbital platform dipped away into the horizon, making sure to approach in the terminator shadow in a way the solar radiation masked his presence as his spacecraft tumbled through the upper atmosphere. Switching to stealth drive and entering controlled fall, the spacecraft landed perpendicular to the ocean and slid into the briny deep undetected, judging by the communications from the orbital platform, the space fleet and the locals.

Letting gravity take over, he focused full power of the reactor's output to the stealth field and the sensor arrays - analyzing and monitoring any and all wide-band communications. If they had suspected his approach, they were doing well to hide it. Then what was the purpose of the blockade? There were one too many mysteries about this colony already...

Deeper and deeper the small spacecraft gently floated down until came to a complete stop around 200 meters below the surface. The computer began to scan the seawater, and returned - 100% safe for him. Dissolved gas levels decent and breathable, and there was a very clear lack of industrial pollution. With these checks confirmed, he decided to rest after setting the nanomachines to build the TENTNET communication array. He would set out tomorrow by nightfall, fully rested and ready for his first expedition.

-

After confirming the TENTNET uplink system was operational, he left the machine to adjust the communications-band channels to avoid detection from locals. After the signal link was established, it would take about a day for the next message to arrive due to the immense distance between this planet and home world. While that was ongoing, he decided to take the first steps into this new world.

Standing at the airlock doors, he patiently waited as the atmosphere cycle completed and took his first breath of this new world. Swimming out after memorizing the location of his starship in the region, he gave his body some real exercise - and it felt so good compared to the stark machinery in his spacecraft. Finally having had his fun, he slowly emerged from the water, raising his sensory palps from the water like a periscope and looked on at the populated island of this colony.

Even now, he remembered his own despair when the first scouts had reported back from the surface after the end of the Long Wait, confirming what he had feared would happen during the Great Dying. The human race was announced to have gone extinct and the scouts were unable to find a single colony alive in Terran space. But now, he was looking upon a small, but surviving colony of remnant humans. Even from the distance, he saw motion - living beings. Humans as the doujins from the Ancients had spoken of. He would take this infiltration step-by-step as he gained insight into this strange colony of humans...

"One small motion forward to me. A giant leap forward for the Old Empire..." he whispered as he began to swim towards the island.
"いただきます."

Looks good from what I've read so far will have to look at the rest of the history later after work. Welcome.

Oh wait, my bad. The [] was leftovers from when I was working on my character. The story will continue in the logs - and here, if things go well.

I figured as much. I just didn't have time to go through the history before I headed out to work that day.

Fixed some mistakes and continuity breaks, let me know what you think!